The Montreal Convention: will the service become better?

The current holiday season turned out to be virtually a failure for the majority of Russians, and this is due not so much to the weather at the resorts of our country, but rather to the fact that the domestic carriers have always let tourists down. It would seem to what all these accusations, however, suffice it to recall that during the summer, news headlines regularly appeared that carriers are canceling their flights, and the situation became more and more common for Russian airlines, and only by the most conservative estimates, Because of the actions of operators, more than 7,5 thousand tourists suffered for which 3-4 weeks of vacation were almost the worst in the year. Of course, more objective information will appear later, however, it is important to take into account the fact that practically no measures were taken with regard to the carriers, and, consequently, the rights of passengers who honestly paid for the expected services were unprotected.

According to experts, fines issued in respect of the airline in the amount of several tens of thousands of rubles are frank mockery of passengers who are forced to stay at airports for 24 hours, and the carrier does not think about providing a reserve aircraft. Interesting is the fact that no one expects to provide passengers with compensation for the delayed flight and all inconveniences caused.

On the other hand, one of the rather pleasant news in the field of Russian aviation is the fact that the country officially joined the Montreal Convention, which, in fact, obliges air carriers to compensate passengers for detained and canceled flights. Given this, it is logical to assume that in the near future, the attitude of operators operating on international routes will change greatly, since joining the convention presupposes strict control over observing the rights of passengers. Of course, experts do not exclude that, together with the improvement in the quality of services, at least, it is expected that the prices for air tickets may change, since air operators will prefer to rid themselves of possible risks, however, it is not necessary to expect a sharp rise in price, since in this case , Passengers will switch to the use of services of foreign companies, as a result of which the damage will become more significant.

Will ordinary citizens of Russia win from joining the Montreal Convention? Provided that the authorities properly monitor the observance of the rights of passengers, as well as subject to appropriate proceedings for a delayed flight, damaged baggage, or violation of one of the many other items provided for by the Convention, the passenger will be given quite impressive monetary compensation, and The carrier will be fined, which, in turn, will allow ordinary airline customers to feel protected, or, at the very least, monetary compensation, will minimize th e caused any damage, however, will be whether the Convention to work in reality, yet it is difficult to judge, because even in Europe, where flight delays are regular carriers still have to remain its customers large amount of compensation.

Kostyuchenko Yuriy specifically for Avia.pro